In today’s noisy digital landscape, businesses face dual challenges: standing out in sales outreach while protecting themselves from increasingly sophisticated security threats. On a recent episode of the Curve Ahead podcast, Kirk Fackre, Vice President of Sales at iCorps Technologies, shared valuable insights on navigating these challenges.
With five startups under his belt, Kirk brings a unique perspective on how lessons from entrepreneurship can drive growth in more established organizations. His journey from serial entrepreneur to corporate leadership offers valuable lessons for businesses at any stage.
The Corporate-Startup Transition: Lessons That Transfer
Kirk spent 20 years in the startup world before transitioning to corporate roles. “I learned at startups what not to do,” he explains, “and I’ve been trying to apply those lessons to the last couple of companies I’ve been involved with helping to grow.”
This perspective is refreshing in a business world that often glorifies startup culture without acknowledging its challenges. Kirk notes that while barriers to entry have lowered with enabling technologies, startups still face persistent challenges: “Making your brand known and developing a successful product that people actually want.”
These fundamental challenges remain relevant whether you’re in a startup or an established business looking for the next growth phase.
Hyper-Personalization vs. Automation in Sales
In an age of AI-powered outreach, Kirk has become “disillusioned with automation” in sales. Despite initially experimenting with machine learning for personalization at scale (which he acknowledges is an oxymoron), he now advocates for a more human approach.
“We use [automation] very in a limited way and not to blast out millions of messages,” Kirk explains. Instead, he recommends:
- Using the telephone (yes, it still works!)
- Genuine LinkedIn outreach (not automated)
- An omnichannel approach that remains focused on specific prospects
The key insight? “It’s less about what you’re going to get from that interaction and more about what they’re going to get,” Kirk says. This value-driven approach helps break through the noise of automated outreach.
AI’s Dual Impact on Security and Sales
iCorps Technologies has witnessed firsthand how AI is transforming both security and sales landscapes. Kirk notes that the tools to attempt business penetration “are profoundly more powerful than they were and they become more powerful every day led by AI advances.”
In response, iCorps implements AI as “a kind of an outer barrier” in their security solutions. This technology helps filter the massive volumes of security data (often “many gigabytes of information per day”) to identify potential concerns before human analysts review them.
However, Kirk emphasizes that AI remains an enabling technology rather than a complete solution: “It doesn’t replace the need to have security analysts.” This human-AI partnership creates stronger protection than either could provide alone.
Building Expertise Through Employee Retention
Perhaps most interesting is iCorps’ approach to differentiation through employee retention. In an era where job-hopping is common, especially among younger workers, the company offers clear growth paths through seven different levels of expertise from IT to security.
“We have fantastic retention of employees. They stick around because they can grow,” Kirk explains. This retention creates compounding benefits:
- Employees develop deeper expertise
- The company retains institutional knowledge
- Clients benefit from continuity of service and relationships
This approach has allowed iCorps to position itself as a “high cost, high value provider” in what could otherwise be viewed as a commodity space.
The Value of Fractional Expertise for Growing Businesses
For smaller businesses that can’t afford full-time CIOs or CISOs, iCorps offers fractional expertise that scales with business needs. Kirk explains this approach helps businesses with two critical areas:
- Strategy: “Which vendors do I choose to support my growth?”
- Security: “How do I keep protecting my edge when the sophistication of bad actors increases almost daily?”
These services provide enterprise-level expertise to smaller organizations that would otherwise struggle to access such resources.
Conclusion: Applying Entrepreneurial Lessons to Business Growth
Kirk’s journey from five startups to corporate leadership demonstrates that entrepreneurial lessons remain valuable across business contexts. The same principles that help startups succeed—listening to customers, providing genuine value, building expertise, and maintaining security—drive growth in established organizations as well.
Whether you’re running a podcast production agency, a tech startup, or an established business, these insights can help you navigate the dual challenges of standing out in a noisy marketplace while protecting your business against evolving threats.
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